diff --git a/content/notes/user-choice-progressive-enhancement.md b/content/notes/user-choice-progressive-enhancement.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c29662e --- /dev/null +++ b/content/notes/user-choice-progressive-enhancement.md @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ +--- +title: "User choice and progressive enhancement" +date: 2022-06-27T14:31:21-07:00 +replyURI: "https://lobste.rs/s/mvw7zd/details_as_menu#c_lxwjcc" +replyTitle: "These browsers are mostly used by tech-savvy people" +replyType: "SocialMediaPosting" +replyAuthor: "Matt Campbell" +replyAuthorURI: "https://mwcampbell.us/blog/" +--- +Many users who need a significant degree of privacy will also be excluded, as JavaScript is a major fingerprinting vector. Users of the Tor Browser are encouraged to stick to the "Safest" security level. That security level disables dangerous features such as: + +- Just-in-time compilation +- JavaScript +- SVG +- MathML +- Graphite font rendering +- automatic media playback + +Even if it were purely a choice in user hands, I'd still feel inclined to respect it. Of course, accommodating needs should come before accommodation of wants; that doesn't mean we should ignore the latter. + +Personally, I'd rather treat any features that disadvantage a marginalized group as a last-resort. I prefer selectively using `
` as it was intended---as a disclosure widget---and would rather come up with other creative alternatives to accordion patterns. Only when there's no other option would I try a progressively-enhanced JS-enabled option. I'm actually a little ambivalent about `
` since I try to support alternative browser engines (beyond Blink, Gecko, and WebKit). Out of [all the independent engines I've tried](https://seirdy.one/site-design/#compatibility-statement), the only one that supports `
` seems to be Servo. + +JavaScript, CSS, and---where sensible---images are optional enhancements to pages. For "apps", progressive enhancement still applies: something informative (e.g. a skeleton with an error message explaining why JS is required) should be shown and overridden with JS.